St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-12

IA what a variety
u ND ~ OfpurSuitS there
~ are to choose
NdAHu from. III low
many different
modes of gain
ing llVelyhOod between selling Datent
buttons and being the chief executive
OF the United States. One never should
hesitate about choosing a profession.
He should choose something that he
thinks will suit him, either bootblack.
bank cashier, or city official, and stick
to it in the same peculiar manner dis
played by the Sweet-scented house
plant, the leech. Of course the main
thing is choosing the profession, and
man necessarily requires little
time in which to size himself I'D and
see what he is best fitted for, but when
he does settle on the trade he is to fol-
low he should never turn back. A great
many people are idle simply because
they are not doing anything, but if they
would only stop to think of the great
number of pursuits between the two
extremes they would have but little diff
Guilty. The natural desire of everybody
is to gain monopoly in his own bust
ness. A monopoly without capital is
simply the result of reputation for
greater skill than any one else posses
ses in the same business. Some people
have mOnopolieS because they do things
that nobody else would do, or because
they do things that nobody else knows
anything about. Under this last
clause might be claSSed the man in New
York, who teaches girls the art of snake
charming, or the man in San Francisco
advertised to find lost articles. This
latter person has done successful bus
n Ii %l,S,, i IL
in early morning to find lost trinkets.
There is also in New York man who
carries on traffic in skeletons. st,
Paul has no academy offering a COM
plete course in snake charming for
young ladies. Her young ladies are
naturally charming enough and they do
all that sort of business from intuition.
Nor is there man who derives a
living from the sale of skeletons,
at least. if there is, he is not
well advertised. There are numerous
skeletons in closets" snd although they
probably came high, they were not ac-
quired at public sale. There is no one
man who employs himself exclusively
ever, numerous people making a living
in ways more or less peculiar. st. Paul
has only few of these trades repre-
sented, but they are none the less pecu-
liar. There is the fruit peddler. who
usually displays his wares on some
prominent character, or if he has no
cart, packs his fruit about in basket.
Occasionally he puts or an unusual
amount of nerve and enters the edito-
rial room OF a newspaper office.
The editor fOrgets his rage over
the interstate commerce bill
in the enjoyment of large,
In
chokeS down his wrath at the police re-
porter with bunch of ConcOrds, and
the sporting editor lets Cardiff alone
long enought to eat an apple. The boy
has been in the Office before, and his
monopoly is a dangerous one from the
fact that he has come to be regarded as
a matter of course.
Then there is the itinerant ice cream
saloon. Its proprietor diSpenses the
frozen delicacy alike to the raggedeSt
newsboy or the bank cashier. 1t is sur
prising at what an early age reckless
extravaganza breaks out in the youth.
He sells afternoon papers for cents,
and the profits are not princely at that,
but he eXpendS 5 cents for the cake
of CONCEALED cuStard with the same air
of content in the man who rakeS off a
thousand on real estate deal. Then
follows a scene, once seen never forgot
ten. Two bare and dirt beSmeared feet,
pair of trousers and jacket cOmpet-
ing with each other in raggedneSS, a
bundle of papers under the left arm and
ever and anon tongue protrudeS from
a streaked face to lick up portion of
the sweet morsel. In st. Paul small
boys begin life by selling newspapers,
and it is a good apprenticeship, but in
Eastern cities large numbers of small
l.. 10
bic buSinesS-that of gathering cigar
stubs. 1t is not an unusual sight to see a
ragged young Italian early in the morn
ing with basket full OF StumpS. Occa-
siOnally he finds one unusually long.
That one does not go into the basket 1t
is inserted in the opening between his
teeth, and smokes it with the same air
of comfort that "a per week dry goods
clerk would have in smoking a 10 cent
package of cigarettes. The question
arises, Where do these cigarettes go?"
Let the smoker settle that question to
his own satisfaction. Chicago has
more representatives of these curious
occupations than any other city in this
city has novel plan for increasing the
number of marriages. He furnishes
young man with five pictures from
which to choose his fate for the
sum of 81. If none of them suit,
he furnishes FIVE more. When
the young man finds the one that he
thinks will suit him a meeting is brought
about and union effected. In the same
city there is also a man who paints
black eyes. If ma gets mixed up III
a row, and has balustrade placed over
one of his optics. he can have the fact
disguised by one of these artists, and
thereby save an unpleasant interview
with his wife. Then there is the rat
catcher, regular Pied Piper of Hame-
lin. He enters cellar with no weapon
save lantern. The rodents become
charmed by his presence and flock
around him. He picks them
up, places them into a bag,
and carts them away. 1t
is best to be solid with the rat-catcher;
for though he may not trail your chill
dren to a cave. still he may turn loose a
bag full of large, healthy rats on you.
There are also in large cities bird doc
tors and dog doctors, and they do sue
cesSful trade, and people who do moth
ing else in summer but trap worms to
be used as food for the feathered song
Sters. Is it then any wonder why people
often wonder why there are so many
out of employment when there are so
many trades to choose from. The less
the competition the greater the field of
labor, and everybody should choose
and begin early in life.
A. S. G.
Looks Like n Failure.